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During his opening statement prosecutor Steve Durham showed jurors a photograph of several objects that included syringes, drug vials and three cotton balls – objects he said that had traces of both human growth hormone and Roger Clemens’ DNA.

“Mr. McNamee saved needles and cotton balls that he used to inject Mr. Clemens – he never completely trusted this man,” Durham told the jury. Brian McNamee is Clemens former trainer, and now his chief accuser.
Clemens’ attorney Rusty Hardin, a colorful Texas lawyer who likes to remind the jury that he once lived in DC and saw Roberta Flack here, told the jury that the evidenced had to have been manufactured by McNamee. “They have no corroborating evidence of McNamee,” Hardin said, and after an exhaustive investigation “they still didn’t have anything to connect him to steroids except Brian McNamee.”

The governments lead-off witnesses are expected to be House Parliamentarian Charles Johnson & committee staffer Phil Barnet, which should make for an interesting cross-examination since the defense is questioning whether the congressional investigation itself was proper – i.e., material.

In a motions hearing the day before jury selection is to begin in the trial of baseball living legend Roger Clemens the judge indicated that he may restrict the testimony of teammate Andy Pettitte and two others. Judge Reggie Walton said testimony by the players that they thought that trainer Brian McNamee was injecting them with performance enhancing drugs could unfairly lead jurors to believe that Clemens thought so too. Clemens is charged with lying to congress about his use of drugs.

Clemens’ attorney, Rusty Hardin, also said that he wanted the jury to hear the tone of his client’s voice during a deposition taken before his congressional testimony, but that the government has only been able to provide a transcript of Clemens testimony; the House of Representatives has declined to turn over the audio which it considers “proprietary”.

Judge Walton told the prosecutors to go back to the House and ask again for the audio recording, this time pointing out the considerable cost to the U.S. government of a delay in the trial.